There are currently 41 City-owned and maintained parks and 9 school-park sites. These sites encompass primarily developed land and total 225 acres.

What makes a place a park?

Alta Mesa Park

In parks, we can enjoy fun and freedom. In one form or another, parks embrace the open airy
qualities of the natural world. A visit to a Redding park engages us in activities that are different than those found elsewhere, providing a vital balance to city life. Beyond their contribution to an attractive public landscape, parks are significant social environments. When we gather at outdoor concerts and fireworks displays, cheer our children at their sporting events or say hello to fellow trail users, we interact and grow as a community. Each type of park, from the small neighborhood playground to the large regional attractions, provides the opportunity for companionship and connection that adds immeasurably to the greater civic good.

There are currently 41 City-owned and maintained parks and 9 school-park sites. These sites encompass primarily developed land and total 225 acres.

In keeping with the City's vision of "assuring parks, trails, and open space and building neighborhoods rather than homes," we continue to acquire land for future parks and are currently building new park facilities in several areas throughout Redding.

Individuals, families, community groups and businesses are all invited to adopt a Redding park. Adopting a park is an excellent opportunity for families or groups to work together picking up trash and enhancing the visual appeal of our parks.

Redding's numerous parks (ranging from 1-acre neighborhood park to 84-acre regional parks) are available for the enjoyment of the public. These parks are tucked away in neighborhoods, nestled along local creeks, or easily accessible from a major street. The City of Redding Parks staff do a fine job with maintenance, but sometimes the eyes, ears and efforts of a park's neighbors can help enhance the overall condition of the park. Would you like to help by adopting your neighborhood park?

Signing-up as a sponsor is easy! Click on this link to see if your park is available for adoption. When you have selected a park, go to Adopt a Park or Trail to find additional information and the necessary forms or call the Community Services Department at 225-4512. Sponsors are expected to clean-up the chosen park or trail a minimum of four times per year. The commitment is minimal, but the reward is great!

Why not take this opportunity to find a few friends, identify a park, and sign-up to be an Adopt-a-Park sponsor!

Neighborhood Parks

East Oak Park

Neighborhood parks are often categorized as small and large. Both small and large neighborhood parks are primarily meant to serve the outdoor recreation needs of people living within walking distance of the park site.

Offering informal recreation areas less than 5-acres in size, small neighborhood parks are usually found in densely populated residential areas to serve a specific local recreation need, or to take advantage of special opportunities. In Redding, they appear frequently as pocket or mini-parks within subdivisions.

Large neighborhood parks are a vital component to our park system. Generally 5 to 15-acres in size, these parks serve as both a recreational and a social focus for neighborhoods because their size allows a greater range of amenities which can accommodate the interests of many different age groups and users.

Community Parks

Enterprise Park

Community and Regional Parks both serve broader purposes than neighborhood parks, and are described here together, as they share many features. They can accommodate both informal, unstructured recreation, as well as organized, scheduled uses for many different age groups. With their greater acreage, community parks allow for large group activities that are neither desirable nor feasible in the smaller neighborhood-sized parks, including tournament play, ball fields, field houses, and recreation or community centers. Within their borders, they can often preserve unique landscapes which can be used for trail corridors, habitat conservation, and open space areas. The larger list of amenities that can be located on this amount of land means that community parks can serve a substantial portion of the indoor and outdoor recreation needs of a city's population and often attract users from outside the immediate city. Where there are no neighborhood parks in a given area, the community park may serve that function for nearby residents as well.

School and Park Joint-use Sites

Enterprise High School Pool

School and park joint-use sites combine the resources of two public entities to expand recreational and educational opportunities in a cost-effective manner. These sites help address the need for recreation facilities, such as ball fields and gymnasiums, and may also provide neighborhood park amenities in developed areas with little available parkland. In Redding, partnerships with our local school districts have resulted in several joint-use facilities: ballfields at Shasta and Enterprise High Schools, gymnasiums at Parsons Jr. High, Turtle Bay Elementary School and Juniper Academy, a swimming pool at Enterprise High School, and tennis courts at both Sequoia Middle School and Enterprise High School.

Redding is one of a growing number of cities that has an official dog park for people to exercise and socialize their pets in an off-leash fenced area. Located on City-owned and maintained property adjacent to Benton Airport, Benton Dog Park offers a safe and attractive alternative for dog owners, since dogs are not allowed in city parks (RMC 7.12.020, and RMC 10.20.130.D). The dog park features over two acres of tree-dotted, fenced property and includes a separate fenced area for smaller dogs, drinking water and numerous seating areas.

The non-profit Benton Dog Park Association supports the dog park by raising funds and providing volunteer support to improve and better maintain the park as a clean, healthy and safe environment for off-leash play. The Association receives and uses funds acquired through fundraising events, donations, grants, etc. for improvement projects.

Dogs are allowed off-leash in posted areas. Locations include Turtle Bay East Open Space located just south east of the HWY 44 Bridge over the Sacramento River with parking access off of North Bechelli, Henderson Open Space located just south east of the Cypress Avenue Bridge over the Sacramento River with parking on Henderson Road, Kapusta Open Space located south of Redding with parking off of Latona Road, and Riverland Drive Open Space Area located off of Riverland Drive South of Redding.

Additional dog parks have been requested by the community with one potential location within the Clover Creek Preserve.

Dog Parks and Basic Etiquette

Off-leash dog parks are a wonderful recreational outlet for dogs all over the world. The
opportunity to run and play with other dogs in a securely fenced environment is a valuable tool in
their social development. Unfortunately, not every dog park is filled with responsible owners,
and as in most things, a few unmannerly people can ruin the whole experience for most. Make
sure you're not one of those humans by following these basic etiquette tips for bark parks.

A Community Garden is a piece of land gardened by a group of people and provides opportunities for social gatherings, beautification, education and recreation. Community gardens provide access to fresh produce and plants as well as access to satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment. They are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access and management.

Redding is fortunate to have two community gardens. The garden in Enterprise Park encompasses approximately 1.25 acres, while the Matson, Mowder & Howe Diestlehorst Garden on north Court Street near the Sacramento River boasts 3.6 acres. Both gardens are managed by People of Progress and actively used by the nearby communities. If you are interested in gardening at one of the locations, please call 243-8713-Box 600 to leave your contact information and someone will get back to you.

The Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan lists community garden areas or "special horticultural areas for ornamental displays and vegetable gardens" as optional amenities for small and large neighborhood parks, community parks, and regional parks. Gardens can be accommodated in many park development plans with interest and support from the community.

The 2004 Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan was developed by the City and its citizens
to create a long-range plan for recreational sites and community open spaces. It looks at every
aspect of the current system and offers strategies to continue the successes, remedy our mistakes,
and anticipate future needs. In scope, the Plan examines a planning area of 83-square miles,
encompassing Redding's city limits and the secondary planning boundary where urbanization
may occur over the next twenty years. It seeks to address the needs of all ages and abilities, and
to also accommodate the many ways people spend their leisure time, whether in recreational
pursuits or in athletic competition.

How does the Master Plan directly assist City staff with planning for the future recreation needs
for the citizens of Redding?

The Master Plan reinforces the essential service that Redding's parks, trails, open space
areas, recreation facilities, and programs provide to the community, helping create a
livable, dynamic, and economically strong city.

The City of Redding 2000-2020 General Plan Goal R4 establishes a minimum of ten
acres of developed parkland per 1,000 population and a broad range of facility types. The
Master Plan strives to accomplish this goal by 2010 by providing recommendations on
expansion and improvement to parks, trails, bikeways and open space.

Proposed subdivisions for any residential lot split greater than 5 lots and most commercial or industrial projects are examined in relation to the Master Plan and the impact to future park, trail, bikeway and open space needs. The Master Plan substantiates the need for land acquisition and improvements.

The Master Plan prioritizes projects to achieve a geographically-balanced park system
and assists all City Departments and builders with recognizing park, trail and open space
requirements that will impact project design and implementation.
In a nutshell, the Master Plan provides credibility for the need to provide space for a balance of
park types and locations, connective trails and bikeways, and open space in an urban
environment.
The development and expansion of the City of Reddingâ€™s park and trail system is funded
primarily through development impact fees and state and federal grants. The City of Redding
General Fund expenditures and community donations have also contributed to the enhancement
of the system. For information on making donations please follow this link.

For an in-depth look at the Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan, follow this link.

The City of Redding Parks Maintenance Division maintains more than 1,000 acres of developed and undeveloped parkland and open space. If condensed into a single unit, this would be just over 1.5 square miles total and equal to an area stretching from Browning Street/Old Alturas Road to Hartnell Avenue and from Interstate-5 to Shasta View Drive. Approximately 55 percent of this acreage is developed and requires regular attention. This service area is not within a tight 1.5 mile square zone, but dispersed across 80 different sites within the 60 square miles that make up the City of Redding. Using conservative estimates, the replacement cost of the City's park system maintained by the Parks Maintenance Division is approximately $200 million.

Developed portions of the park system include landscaping, structures, facilities, infrastructure, hundreds of miles of buried irrigation (some components more than 50 years old), a $5.4 million aquatic center featuring two pools totaling 900,000 gallons of water, a fee free water park at Fantasy Fountain in the Enterprise Community Park, 16 tennis courts, 10 sports fields, over 30 playgrounds and play structures, 24 restrooms, 8 pedestrian bridges, 7 fountains, 3 boat ramp facilities, 2 lakes, hundreds of trash cans, more than 30 miles of trails, and over 30,000 trees. The range of duties to maintain these elements span from cutting grass and emptying trash bins, grooming sports fields to league regulation standards, repairing valves and irrigation, pouring concrete, replacing park and field lighting, plumbing broken restroom toilets, extensive tree trimming work, and maintaining the Redding Aquatic Center. Also, the Parks Division oversees and administers the contracts for the Landscape Maintenance Districts that are performed by private contractors throughout the City in developed subdivisions and commercial facilities. Skills required of the Parks staff involve knowledge of plant care, arborist and pesticide application certifications, working in confined spaces, and maintaining mechanical equipment that includes weed trimmers, chainsaws, mowers, backhoes, fountain and water feature pumps, industrial sized chlorine distribution tanks and other swimming pool operation systems. The Parks Maintenance Division also maintains the roadway medians and shoulder landscape areas, including the Shasta View Drive Roundabout, Bonnyview Road Landscape Medians, the Hilltop Drive Streetscape and City Gateway Landscapes on Market Street north and south, Eureka Way and on Hilltop Drive and Cypress Avenue interchange.